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MP3 Player Reviews & News

Cowon V5W gets WiFi upgrade

written by Gavin Smith on Jul 8th, 2010
Category: Cowon

Cowon’s V5 has become a player that we have grown to love in 2010 (even if it is Windows CE powered), but consumers will soon be falling out of love with the player after Cowon announced its V5W.

The device packs a 4.8-inch WVGA screen and is available in either 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB – keeping the SD expansion slot. Yes, we can ignore the HD support (720p).  Keeping in line with the V5, the V5W handles HD file format’s, but it also comes fitted with HDMI and composite output.

The big news is the WiFi 802.11 b/g support, sitting it just short of a full blown tablet. That’s right, Cowon have preloaded the Opera browser and a YouTube viewer to take advantage of the new wireless connection. The browser comes coupled with a multimedia app, image viewer, voice recorder, text reader, calculator, metric converter, world clock, and DMB-tuner amongst others.

The player still keeps its light power consumption, capable of 45 hours of continuous audio, 10 hours of continuous video. or 300 hours on standby.

It will be released to Korea in July (with the rest of us to follow) in three colors – Purple, Black, White.

Coby MP620 reminiscent of Zune original

written by Craig Matthews on Jul 5th, 2010
Category: Other

Who could ever forget Microsoft’s flagship Zune original media player? Well, apparently the folks over at Coby can’t get it out of their heads after the company revealed it’s new Coby MP620 PMP.

The new player is being marketed as a cheaper alternative to the iPod nano with its audio and video capabilities. While it has an initial appearance of a Zune, it’s dimensions and design bring it more inline with the nano.

The device packs a nifty 1.8-inch LCD display, but no word on a pair of matching speakers. The device will be available in both 4GB and 8GB flavors packing an FM tuner (and a host of other features).

Available in black, red or blue, the player will retail for just $29.55 or $43.05 for the 4GB and 8GB respectively. Eat your heart out, Apple.

Glitzy iriver N15 Jewel is announced

written by Gavin Smith on Jun 21st, 2010
Category: iRiver

If the likes of either the N15 or N20 were just not all that appealing, iriver hopes it will change your mind after it revealed its limited-edition iriver N15 Jewel MP3 player. If you were a big fan of the “iced” Hello Kitty MP3 player, then the Jewel might be right up your alley.

As suggested in the name, the Jewel is a reincarnation of the former N15 with stylized Swarovski crystals, available in two different designs. The Jewel is hitting stores across Japan, don’t expect it stateside anytime soon.

iriver N15 Jewel specifications:

  • 2/4GB capacities
  • OLED 120 x 56 display
  • support for MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC and WAV files
  • includes FM tuner, FM recorder, and voice recorder
  • features iriver’s IESE (iriver Extreme Sound Engine) technology
  • available in two different crystallized designs

[via IMP3]

iriver T8 and S100 players get hands-on look

written by Gavin Smith on Jun 14th, 2010
Category: iRiver

The two newest additions to the iriver line of gadgetry, the S100 and T8, have received some notable attention since being revealed to the blogosphere.  Although both players are likely slated for release within the upcoming weeks, there has been nothing to surface to demonstrate the players in action.

Well, we can offer a first look at bot the S100 and T8 in full action. That’s right, an individual going under the alias of burgundy59 on YouTube has posted a whole slew of videos demonstrating both of the players in action.

Nope, we don’t get to learn anything that we didn’t already know, but it’s a great opportunity to get a ‘look and feel’ for iriver’s newest entry-level mp3 players.

Videos after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

Samsung enters pico-projector market

written by Gavin Smith on Jun 9th, 2010
Category: Samsung

We’ve seen our fair share of pico projectors over the past couple of months – who could forget the AAXA L1 or the 3M MPro150? But Samsung might have something special with its new SP-H03 pico projector.

For a device that could initially be mistaken for an old Polaroid camera, the SP-H03 is a sleek piece of kit. The gadget features 1GB of internal memory which is expandable by another 16GB using the microSD expansion slot. Shining at a scintillating 30 lumens, the SP-H03 pushes out WVGA (854×480) video which will make it easier to look past the pathetic 1W speaker.

The best feature about this device is it support for open and proprietary codecs alike – we’re talking AVI, MP4, ASF, MPG, RM, FLV, WMV video files and MP3, MP2, WAV, WMA, FLAC, APE, RA audio files.  Keep that charger handy because the 2-hour battery life will keep you searching for your nearest plug socket. At a remarkable 6 ounces, the SP-H03 occupies dimensions of 2.5 x 1.5 x 2.5 inches.

Unfortunately, the $300 price tag isn’t all that cheap, but a lot of that is down to the “coolness” factor. Expect the product to be available later this month.

For a better all round look, be sure to check out the video after the jump. There’s more to this piece of gadgetry than meets the eye…

Read the rest of this entry »

YP-MB2, first Samsung Android MP3 Player?

written by Craig Matthews on Jun 6th, 2010
Category: Samsung

Since our revelation of a new Samsung media player, specs of the upcoming YP-MB2 have been rising to the surface. That’s right, the folks over at Bluetooth SIG have been kind enough once again to shed further light on the upcoming Samsung MP3 player via their database of “Qualified Products”.

According to the SIG description, the device is “a multi functional Mobile Internet Device(MID) with touch-pad, GPS, Bluetooth technology, Wi-Fi and Linux OS model supporting Samsung TouchWiz 3.0 and 4.0 inch AMOLED full touch LCD.”  Such a description leaves an impression of grandeur; however, we’re not expecting competition with the likes of the iPad just yet.

Engadget have dug deeper into the technical documents and discovered that the player’s geographic availability reads “Asia” (no stateside release) and that the device will be powered via Google’s Android OS.

[via Engadget, via SamsungHub]

iriver E30 Matte gets storage upgrade

written by Craig Matthews on Jun 2nd, 2010
Category: iRiver

The iriver E30 Matte which is exclusively limited to Japan has received an upgrade of sorts. The player, which has proved rather successful in the Japanese market, has seen its storage increase from a mere 2GB to options of 4GB or 8GB. Not much else to write home about; you still get the same old specs – 1.8” (176×220) screen with the usual file support.

Still no word on a European/American release. Check out the product page.

[Source: akihabara]

Cowon releases firmware update v1.10 for J3

written by Craig Matthews on Jun 1st, 2010
Category: Cowon

The Cowon J3 might have only just hit stores stateside but in the midst of all the fuss and excitement, Cowon has released firmware update v1.10 for the Cowon J3. Not too many significant changes to the player’s functionality, namely speed improvements and a number of bug fixes.

Using the power of Google Translate, the firmware update comprises of (but not limited to) the following improvements:

  • Cowon Cartoon Viewer <COMIX>
  • Stopwatch Utility
  • Browser speed and performance metrics
  • Improved response and speed of UI
  • Changes to the behaviour of the main menu.
  • Improved scrolling speed of dictionary

[Thanks Jonathan, via anythingbutipod via Cowon]

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